


rise through the ranks

by Misty_Reeyus



Category: Tales of Xillia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Office, Crushes, F/F, Pining, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 09:07:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13268223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misty_Reeyus/pseuds/Misty_Reeyus
Summary: Leia is an intern, Milla Maxwell is CEO, and Leia is falling really,reallyhard.





	rise through the ranks

**Author's Note:**

> written as a pinch hit for [Tales Secret Santa 2017](https://talessecretsanta.tumblr.com/)
> 
> prompt: [Milla/Leia workplace AU - Having a crush on the boss]

Leia meets Milla Maxwell on her first day as an intern.

Of course the founder and CEO of Maxwell Media would command attention and respect with her title alone, but she also does so with her very presence. She enters the room with a confident stride and steely-strong eyes, clad in a casual blue-and-white dress suit and with her full blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail. She levels the entire assemblage of this year’s new interns with a firm, appraising gaze, before her lips eventually settle into a soft, _beautiful_ smile. 

Leia’s heart jumps up her throat.

Milla Maxwell introduces herself before easily segueing into her speech. She breezes through the history and purpose of the company. She talks about the type of work she expects the interns to do. She makes it clear that anyone who causes trouble will be dealt with accordingly, and that is as terrifying as it is really really hot and Leia swears that in that moment, her pulse hits a thousand beats per minute.

But at the end, Milla Maxwell tells them that she has high hopes for all of their future careers, whether it be with her company or elsewhere. She exits the room just as impressively she entered, leaving behind a pile of starstruck, suddenly exceptionally motivated young interns. Even long after she’s gone, Leia can’t stop thinking about how those bright red eyes carefully studied her, how her golden hair swished about in hypnotizing waves, how her whole form almost seemed to _glow_ even beneath the artificial ceiling lights.

Oh, Leia thinks.

Oh, she is so, _so_ screwed.

* * *

Milla is a surprisingly hands-on type of boss.

She talks to everyone, interns included, at least once in a while, and actually gets to know them as more than just her subordinates. Sometimes, Leia sees her walking around the offices or the sets, commenting on people’s work, seemingly genuinely invested and even offering feedback of her own. She has high expectations, and she’s strict, but she’s also fair and kind and utterly drop-dead gorgeous (and though that last one has nothing to do with her work, Leia can’t help but notice it anyway).

Milla doesn’t have to check up on the people running the bottom rungs of her company, she’s CEO for crying out loud. But she does anyway, and the more Leia sees of how Milla runs her business, the more she likes her.

It’s only after Leia has spent a good three months silently admiring Milla from afar that they have their first real conversation, though. One day, Milla just so happens to pop in on the interns’ station (a tucked-away room with a bunch of chairs and a counter atop which sits the floor printer), whist Leia is in the middle of putting the final edits to a piece. It’s her first real assignment aside from pushing papers and fetching coffee—nothing more than fluff, but a story nonetheless. 

Before Leia even knows it, Milla is right behind her, bending to glance over her shoulder at the work on her laptop screen. She’s close, so close that strands of her hair tickle against Leia’s ear, that Leia can almost feel Milla’s breath washing over her scalp as she points out two grammatical mistakes and offers an alternate, admittedly much more concise wording of Leia’s closing statement.

“Otherwise, though, I’d say this is solid,” Milla says, and flashes a dazzling smile. “Keep up the good work, Leia.”

“Y-yes, thank you so much. I will.” 

Milla nods before smoothly departing, making her way out the room and down the hall. Once she’s out of sight, Leia lets out a shuddering breath, snatching her notebook up from the tabletop to bury her face into it.

Her cheeks are burning so hot she half expects the paper to catch on fire.

* * *

After completing her internship, Leia manages to get herself hired full-time.

It wasn’t a hard choice, deciding to keep working for Maxwell Media. Leia genuinely likes it here, and not just because of the CEO. She likes the work, likes that she’s dipping her toes into the world of real journalism, likes that the hours are flexible and the people are friendly and the pay keeps her afloat.

And, yeah, she does really like the CEO too. Not that Leia holds any hope of her little crush on Milla ever _actually_ being realized, but hey, a girl can have her fantasies.

Anyway, Leia is decently content with how her career’s unfolding so far. She has interest, and a passion, and admittedly she can get carried away with that at times. On more than a few occasions, Leia finds herself so embroiled in her work that she forgoes all else, a half-formed habit that she doesn’t pay much mind to until the day Milla catches her one day at lunch hour, still typing away by her lonesome at her desk, any thoughts of hunger having completely fallen by the wayside.

“Eating is a necessity, Leia,” Milla tells her, lightly scolding, yet somewhat amused. “Believe me, I’ve learned that the hard way. I once forwent food for so long, I nearly passed out.”

Leia has a hard time picturing that, and she imagines that it’s something of a long story. Nonetheless, Milla is persuasive, and that’s how Leia ends up grabbing her purse and accompanying Milla down to the sandwich shop a few blocks down. They order, and then sit together at the same table, and Leia bites shyly into her turkey sandwich as Milla digs into her own BLT with vigor.

Her manner of eating is not quite as professional as Leia would have assumed. Somehow, it’s more… _cute_ than anything, the way her cheeks puff up almost like a chipmunk, the way her eyes sparkle with an enthused gleam. It’s a side of Milla that Leia’s never quite seen before, and she finds herself mesmerized as in between bites, they talk about Leia’s newest piece—the drama with the Kresnik family, which has become something of a scandal as of late.

“You should be heading back soon,” Milla eventually notes, checking her watch after both their meals are gone. “I have another engagement soon, so I hope you can make it back to the offices yourself?”

Leia nods. “Yeah, no problem.”

Milla grins. “This was nice. We should have lunch together again some time.”

Leia nearly feels like squealing aloud just at the thought, but she miraculously manages not to as she says, “I would love that.”

(She squeals fifteen minutes later in the privacy of the office’s empty bathroom.)

* * *

It actually becomes something of a routine, the two of them having lunch together. It’s not an everyday thing, given both their busy schedules, but over the months that creep into years of working for Maxwell Media, Leia finds herself breaking bread with Milla on a semi-frequent basis. The more time they spend together, the more Leia starts to feel giddy—even kind of _special_ , since as far as she can tell, Milla doesn’t regularly go on lunch trips with just any of her employees.

Leia doesn’t want to push her luck but, well. In terms of her work, she’s been gaining prominence as a journalist in her own right, and in terms of her relationship with Milla, they’ve definitely gone beyond colleagues and into friends by now. 

So the week after Leia gets herself promoted to section editor, whilst eating the lunch that Milla bought for her as congratulations, Leia gives Milla her pitch.

“There’s this new restaurant that’s opened up a couple districts over,” Leia starts, smiling brightly even as her palms begin to sweat. “I’ve heard they’re really great, so I was wondering if maybe you’d like to check it out with me sometime?”

Milla cocks her head to the side. “Going out of the district wouldn’t leave us much time for lunch.”

“N-not for lunch,” Leia hastily clarifies, “but for dinner, on like, a day off? We could even do a mall crawl or catch a movie first.”

Milla furrows her brow for a moment before pulling out her phone and scrolling through it. After apparently finding what she was searching for, she smiles. 

“My schedule is cleared for next Saturday. Would that do?”

That would absolutely do, and Leia says as such.

“Then it’s a date,” Milla proclaims, and presumably types that into her calendar before putting her phone away again. “I’ll look forward to it.”

“Yeah,” Leia says, as internally she does a victory dance. “Me too.”


End file.
